Method for preparing the potassium salt of ortho-formotoluide



Patented June 8, 1%43 METHOD FOR-PREPARING THEPOTASSIU-M SALT OF OR'IHO-FORMQTOLUIDE Garry Cr Kitchens, Rutherford; N;1J.,,..assignor. to lliurtonv T..Busl1',.Inc., NewYorkfN. Y.,. a corporationofNeW Jersey No Drawing. ApplicationtluneiflplMS, Serial No. 599,314

6. Claims.

l '2 This invention relates-to a process for making thepotassiumsalt of-.ortho-formoto1uide. This asubstance: is anintermediate in the preparation oiz indola-and consequently this invention. also won methoxide or t-butoxide were found-tabe nassatisiactory. UwMoreover, or anioachemists-t had long supposed-that metallicrpotassium or sodium N or their alcoliolates wor jam'ides, were required to prepare. the metallic...salt oficompounds offthe class .to.v whichtortho 'formotoluide belongs.

. ,In general, my. improved process is .carried ,out

.has. application to: the preparation .of indole. 5...as..set;-forth .below. T Potassium" hydroxide and ;.-.Indole, a chemical which wasfirst prepared orthoformotoluide. are .causedto reactwith each and establishedas. the parent substance of indigo other, preferablyin the presence ."of a non-polar --;by.Baeyer-inl886, is of considerable importance. solvent. Duringthe reactionswhich .isadvan- .;In,dole, isan extremely-important raw material tageously conducted at. atmospheric pressure and, to:the perfumer, being an essential ingredient in 10. where possible, .under refluxfconditionsthe water p-many floral-:type perfumes and oils, aswell as formed is.-continuously. and, automatically..reliservingas a-;starting material for other chemicals. moyedl irom therreaction' vessel," according; to ;.It:.;is.'known that indole can; be prepared with .known means. ('Whenlthe reaction is completed, 1: ortho..zformotoluide and metallic, potassiumas orsubstantially complete.d,.the non-gpolarsolvent starting materials. An alcoholate of potassium is is' distillediomleaving' the potassium Salt of;ortho first prepared by treating a lower aliphatic-.alco- Y .formotoluide. ,fIhis. is. a.iwhite crystalline solid whol; preferably tertiary butyl', alcohol, with mehaving amelting.pointaround2528j C.1f.It isthen 1-.tallic,-;potassium. The ortho .formotoluide. and heated to 340-360 C. in an apparatus suitable potassiumalcoholate are reacted .to form-potasfor conducting distillation. .Ihedistillate, ,ortho .-..sium-rortho;.formotoluide; which is then fused to toluidine, is recovered and may be guseditopform .iyield.,:the;-.potassium salt of indole and ortho ortho formotoluide,.whichjof. coursecamthen be .toluidine; -the"-former.,..,then being hydrolyzedito processed as above. In addition to the ortho form indole, toluidine, gaseous productsesuch as carbon mon- .:'This.;knowni process,. described in theJournal oxide are also evolved duri the fusion. of ;the -.,Americ.an Chemicalv Society, 63, 2024-5 Theresiduerwhichisithep ium 0f 1. 1 941),- .furnishes indole of. satisfactory purity. -indole;'-may -be-treated'inknowrr ma-nnertoform 'However,..1theprocess, has serious disadvantages. indole. :It ,requiresthe use of a rather costlymaterial, It'is believedithatthe following'chemical-equametallic potassium. Moreover, the alcoholate-of tions set forth the reactions occurring --in"the potassium has to be. prepared.with;special.care, practiceof my provedp ocesst .ergsibyconductingthereaction under a nitrogen 'j 3 CH: gasatmosphere. and .by making. suitablerprovi- .NCHO a..sionsz.xto;. handle: safely the; gaseous hydrogen HOH stormed. simultaneously with the, alcoholate. +ROH l .;vI- have'.ound away. to. improve the. known process,.sosthat it doesnothavethe. abovei-men- .Orthoformo- ,Potassium -Potassium-salt .-Water ;;tionedi;disadvantages. ;I. accomplish this result hide "hydmide f g fg q :tbysemploying,potassium hydroxide in, place of or o m e 1: metallic potassium. The cost and availability of CH3 potassium. -hydroxide are ,much. more favorable 40 N.CHO -.commer.cially than theyiare in the caseyofxme- K .talliccpotassium. nMyimproved-process makes it ;...unnecessary; to. prepare analcoholate. :AS a re- EH3 su1t"of;my:;invention,. the cost. of.;making indole is reduced and a more simple practical process-is i 00 KOH .athereforemrovided. ewill-gbe understoodby -organic chemists ;ski1led;inthe art, onezcould,.not havesafely-pre- Orthp -Carbon,. PotflSsinm dicted inadvance that thesubstitution ofpotasm gi g... "tolmdme Wmonmde .1sium.-- hydroxide. as" the .alkali-metal-containing f indole :ingredient would. have resulted in+an operable ;:process.-- For one thing, the-prior art itself recogunized thespecificity of the' reaction. Thus, compounds such as sodium amide,-.sodiumrethoxide,

It was above stated that non-polar solvents were preferably employed in the reaction of potassium hydroxide and ortho formotoluide. Among those solvents which'have been employed ar benzene, toluene and the xylenes'.

The relative amounts of potassium hydroxide and ortho formotoluide used in my process may vary. However, it is preferred to use equimolecular amounts, as these represent the theoretical amounts called for by the equation applying to the reaction. Nor is the process restricted to 4 the temperature reaches 120 to 140 C. the mass becomes too thick for agitation and the stirrer is stopped. Heating is continued until the mass melts (about 250 C.) at which point the stirrer is cautiously started and heating of the liquid mass is continued until the decomposition of the any articular amount of non-polar solvent.

Enough of the solvent should be used so as to enable the formation of an azeotrope with the water reaction and to permit the separation and removal of the water prior to the return of the condensed solvent to the reaction chamber.

Still referring to the reactionof potassium hydroxide and ortho formotoluide, variations are possible also in the temperature, pressure and time of reaction. 'For example; I have conducted the reaction under reflux-conditions at atmospheric pressure with benzene and metaxylene, or in other words, at temperatures between about 80 C. and about 140 C. As regards pressure, the reaction may be conducted under subatmospheric or superatmospheric conditions, if desired, but I prefer to employ atmospheric pressure. As will be understood by organic chemists, the time of reaction will vary according to the amounts of ingredients used and the temperature and pressure conditions employed. A suitable control is to run the reaction until all 'or substantially all the calculated amount of water of reaction has been formed and removed from the reaction chamber. I

In order that my invention may be further described, I am setting forth an example illustrating the practice of my improved process.

Example Place into a two liter, three neck flask fitted with a mechanical stirrer, dropping funnel and a reflux condenser equipped with a continuous water separator, 200 grams of benzene and 120 grams (2.02 moles) of potassium hydroxide (94%). The contents of the flask are vigorously potassium salt of formotoluide begins which reaction is indicated by the rapid distillation of toluidine and the evolution of gases, Normally the transition into the potassium salt of indole occurs within a temperature range of 340-360 C. Local overheating or part heating can cause this reaction to begin at temperatures approximately 50 C. lower. In normal batches the temperature is held within the range of 340-360 until no more toluidine distills. The contents of the flask are then allowed to cool and 420 grams of water are added, and the batch is subjected to steam distillation. The indole is extracted from the steam distillate with benzene. The solution of indole in benzene is worked up by distillation of the benzene. 60-65 grams of crude indole which contains some toluidine as an impurity are obtained. This crude indole, melting point about 50 0., yields -50 grams of pure indole, melting point 52-53 C. after purification by distillation and crystallization from petroleum ether.

180 grams of toluidine is recovered in the process.

agitated and now brought to a vigorous reflux by heating. A warm anhydrous solution of benzene and ortho formotoluide, previously prepared from 200 grams of benzene and 273 grams (2.02 moles) of ortho formotoluide (congealing point 56 C. or better), is fed in through the dropping funnel over a period of four hours under vigorous agitation and refluxing, continuously removing the Water of the reaction as formed by separating it out of the distillate. The refluxing is continued until no more water is removed from the reaction. 38 grams of water are separated. This is slightly more than the expected theoretical quantity of water which increase is probably due to the slight moisture content of the ingredients. The white potassium ortho formotoluide salt begins to precipitate soon after the addition is started and the reaction mass becomes quite heavy with solid material at the end of the reaction. The potassium salt can be isolated by filtration or by removing the benzene by distillation,

For the preparation of indole, the reflux condenser is now replaced with a downward going condenser for removal of the benzene by distillation and the dropping funnel is replaced with a thermometer that extends near the bottom of the flask. The benzene is distilled ofi and the temperature of the contents gradually raised. When The foregoing illustrates the practice of this invention, which however, is not to be limited thereby but is to be construed as broadly as permissible in view of the prior art and limited solely by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The process for making the potassium salt of ortho formotoluide, which comprises reacting ortho-formotoluide and potassium hydroxide in the presence of a non-polar liquid while removing the water formed during the reaction as it is formed by distilling off the azeotrope of water and said liquid.

2. The process for making the potassium salt of ortho formotoluide, which comprises reacting ortho formotoluide and potassium hydroxide in the presence of a liquid of aromatic hydrocarbon while removing the water formed during the reaction as it is formed by distilling oil the azeotrope of water and said liquid.

' 3. The process for making the potassium salt of ortho formotoluide, which comprises reacting ortho formotoluide and potassium hydroxide in the presence of benzene while removing the water formed. during the reaction as it is formed by distilling off the azeotrope of water and benzene.

4. The process for making the potassium salt of ortho formotoluide which comprises reacting substantially equimolecular quantities of ortho formotoluide and potassium hydroxide in the presence of a non-polar liquid under reflux con- -ditions at atmospheric pressure while removing the water formed during the reaction as it is formed by distilling off the azeotrope of water and said liquid. 1

5. The process for making the potassium salt of ortho formotoluide which comprises reacting substantially equimolecular quantities of ortho formotoluide and potassium hydroxide in the presence of a liquid aromatic hydrocarbon under reflux conditions at atmospheric pressure while removing the water formed during the reaction as it is formed by distilling off the azeotrope of water and said liquid.

6. The process for making the potassium salt of ;ortho formotoluide which comprises reacting substantially equiinolecular quantitiesot ortho 2,442,952 5 6 formotoluide and potassium hydroxide in the REFERENCES CITED presence of benzene under reflux conditions at atmospheric pressure whil r m vi th water The following references are of record in the formed during the reaction as it is formed by disfile f hi P ent: tilling ofi the azeotrope of water and benzene. 5 Organic synthesis, v01. 23 (1943) pages 4245 Lucas-Organic Chemistry, American Book Co. GARRY KITCHENS- New York (1935),pages 296-297. 

